1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and systems for processing and responding to emergency medical inquiries. Specifically, this invention relates to the process or method for receiving and processing critical information regarding emergency medical calls. Also, this invention specifically relates to a system and apparatus for performing the steps of a process for receiving and processing critical emergency medical information.
Providing adequate emergency medical care presents several critical challenges to medical care providers. These challenges include: the proximity to the care provider, the time required for help to arrive, the identification of the criticality of the emergency, the appropriate level of care provided, the variances in training of emergency medical dispatcher personnel, and limited nature of emergency care resources. This invention addresses these challenges by providing a consistent and proven system for: First, gathering necessary medical complaint information from emergency medical inquiry callers. Second, prioritizing the complaint to determine the criticality of the emergency. Third, providing emergency verbal instructions to individuals at the scene. Fourth, assisting dispatched responders to be prepared for each emergency situation. And, fifth, advising those on the way to provide care at the scene of specific problems or potential hazards. When used correctly this invention decreases the effective response time, while increasing the professionalism and control of emergency medical dispatchers; increases the accuracy and appropriateness of patient interrogation and well as the quality of gathered information; reduces the number of multiple unit and light-and-siren responses thereby reducing the risk of emergency medical vehicular collisions; improves patient care; reduces burn-out and stress of dispatchers by improving their quality of training and performance; decreases the risk of responder injury or mistake by providing responders with improved knowledge of the situation; and provides a means for continuously improving the quality of emergency medical dispatching and, as a result, emergency patient care.
2. Description of Related Art
It is desirable to provide a systematic and standardized method for responding to emergency medical requests. Although in the related art some attempt has been made to address the problem of medical care assessment, the related art does not address the specific problems of emergency dispatcher response. Rather related art approaches known to the applicant describe the following. A process of helping patients assess their health, select appropriate health care, and guide such patients to an appropriate level and type of care. An automated medical history taking system and a technique wherein selected branch paths through a question repertory are provided. A method and apparatus for coordinating the actions of two or more medical teams, especially for instructional purposes. An expert system for providing suggested treatments for a patient with physical trauma. A medical payment system that incorporates computer technology in the storage, retrieval and processing of patient data and insurance claims. A knowledge base containing medical/pathological information on various diseases. A hospital computerized system for entering information pertinent to a patient""s stay in the hospital. An expert computer system for processing medical claims. An interactive computerized apparatus and method for presenting medical information for diagnosis and study of disease. An automated and interactive positive motivation system to send a series of motivational messages and/or questions to a client to change or reinforce a specific behavioral problem. An artificial intelligent expert system. A rapid response health care communications system for providing rapid and reliable health services to patients located within or outside a health care facility. Also, several patents issued to the inventor of this invention are directed to several specific issues of an emergency medical dispatch system, but do not describe the specific improvements and entry process steps of this invention.
For general background material, the reader is directed to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,799,147, 4,130,881, 4,237,344, 4,290,114, 4,360,345, 4,489,387, 4,731,725, 4,839,822, 4,858,121, 4,922,514, 4,945,476, 5,063,522, 5,065,315, 5,072,383, 5,086,391, 5,228,449, 5,253,164, 5,255,187, 5,339,351, 5,348,008, 5,404,292, 5,438,996, 5,462,051, 5,471,382, 5,502,726, 5,513,993, 5,516,702, 5,521,812, 5,544,649, 5,554,031, 5,590,269, 5,594,638, 5,596,994, 5,660,176, 5,722,418, 5,724,983, 5,759,044 5,761,493, 5,805,670, 5,809,493, 5,826,077, 5,844,817, 5,857,966, 5,910,987, 5,915,019, 5,926,526, 5,964,700, 5,962,891, 5,989,187, 5,991,751, 6,004,266, 6,010,451, 6,035,187, 6,053,864, 6,074,345, 6,076,065, 6,078,894, 6,106,459, 6,115,646, and 6,117,073. Each of the above references is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for the material disclosed therein.
It is desirable to provide an improved system for emergency medical dispatch of health care services that provides the dispatcher a systematic method of interrogation of callers, where inquiries and instructions are pre-scripted, thus eliminating the variability due to different skills of the individual dispatchers and the need for the dispatcher to attempt to recall the appropriate inquiries and instructions each time a call is received. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a system for emergency medical care dispatch that improves the accuracy and appropriateness of patient interrogation and resulting response generation. Such a system can formalize the roll of the emergency medical dispatcher as part of the professional chain of patient care. It is also desirable to have a method for communicating with medical response teams such that multiple unit and light-and-siren responses are reduced, thereby reducing the collision risks to emergency vehicles and preserving the limited emergency response resources. It is desirable to provide a medical dispatch system that improves patient care by improving the accuracy and usefulness of gathered information, thereby reserving paramedic teams for the most critical emergencies. It is desirable to have a medical dispatch system that reduces dispatcher burn-out and stress by improving information relayed to field responders while simultaneously providing such. responders with increased safety awareness and knowledge of the field situation.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to provide a medical dispatch system that is designed to programmatically guide the medical dispatcher through the initial interrogation, obtaining all critical patient information.
A further object of this invention is to provide a method and system which produces a determinate value, establishing the criticality of the call as well as defining the appropriate response, based, at least partially, on the responses to the programmed initial interrogation, that is upon the critical patient information.
Another object of this invention is to provide a cross-referenced scripted set of instructions to be given by the dispatcher to the caller in a medical emergency situation.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of determining the criticality of a medical emergency and communicating such level of criticality to the response personnel.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a method for gathering and communicating information concerning the situation at the field location to the response personnel and the emergency medical callers.
A further object of this invention is to improve the quality, efficiency and usefulness of the information received to and communicated by emergency medical dispatchers thereby improving the quality of emergency medical services provided to patient before, during and after the arrival of emergency medical technicians.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a method, system and apparatus for an improved entry protocol for emergency medical dispatchers.
These and other objects of this invention, which will be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of this patent specification and claims, are achieved by an invention which permits a systematic gathering of patient information, with a set of scripted instructions and with guidance for relaying information to the field emergency personnel. The method and system of this invention is currently envisioned in two equally preferred embodiments. First, a set of cross-referenced cards with scripted questions, instructions and categorizations is provided. Second, a computerized process is provided with software controlling the access and reference points to a computerized database of emergency medical inquiries and instructions are provided. Each preferred embodiment incorporates the same essential method of this invention, though each has its own particular advantages.